THE wife of a Wynyard property tycoon was fined s250 after driving her Bentley into a traffic controller on the luxury estate.

Teesside Magistrates Court heard that Barbara Musgrave, wife of Teesside entrepreneur Chris Musgrave, knocked Andrew Paterson over from behind before speeding off along the grass verge.

Mr Paterson fell and hit his knees on the ground and is still receiving physiotherapy.

The road rage incident occurred at around 11.30am on November 15 as Musgrave was returning home from a shopping trip.

A two-day Christmas Fair was being held at Wynyard Hall and, as such, traffic management had been brought in to control the additional vehicles.

The court heard that Musgrave became agitated after getting caught in a queue, edged her way past the waiting cars to the front and insisted she be let past.

Mr Paterson, who was letting vehicles pass from the opposite direction, politely requested she wait.

But the 44-year-old mother of two continually nudged her car forward, it was said.

Prosecuting, Paul Powell told the court: Words were exchanged and what Andrew Paterson would say is Mrs Musgrave was insistent that she was entitled to pass through.

That went on for some time and Mrs Musgrave became very annoyed and again and again he had to tell her to wait.

While Mr Paterson was facing away from the car, Musgrave again moved forward and hit him from behind, causing him to buckle forward and hit both knees on the ground.

He shouted What the hell are you doing? said Mr Powell.

Mrs Musgrave said I will speak to Sir John and drove off in the Bentley on the grass verge.

Another employee said Musgrave hit his colleague before driving off at speed on the verge.

A bus driver told police he heard Musgrave say You cant tell me what to do, to which Mr Paterson replied Im trying to help. If you arent patient the traffic will be chaos.

Mr Paterson, 34, from North Shields, has since left employment at Wynyard Hall and he now works as a chef.

After hearing the outcome of the court case, he told the Gazette: I think thats disgusting.

I was fined more than that when I was involved in a road traffic collision which was a real accident. Its crazy.

I didnt know anything about her and her husband but I just thought you cant do that and get away with it.

Musgrave, who was accompanied by her husband in court, pleaded guilty to common assault yesterday.

In her defence, Christopher Stables QC told the court that the Musgraves home was built on Sir John Halls property and the purchase included the right of way on the internal roads, allowing them access to the public highway.

The traffic and delays created by the annual Christmas Fair caused considerable inconvenience for the Musgraves, he said.

For her she has to suffer the anxiety and frustration of waiting for 40 to 50 minutes, he said.

He may well have believed she was trying to jump the queue when she was trying to bypass the event and take home her shopping.

The court heard that Musgrave said she did not deliberately drive at Mr Paterson but accepted that she did hit him.

It was not a deliberate assault, this was a reckless assault, said Mr Stables.

He added that Musgrave was a woman of impeccable character who has worried incessantly about the court proceedings.

The magistrates fined her s250 with a victim surcharge of s15 and ordered her to pay costs of s80.

Chairman of the bench, Michael Poole told her: Because we understand that civil proceedings are in place, we make no award for compensation.

Musgrave left the court along with her husband and security boss and former boxer Dave Garside.